Pullout feed roller for printing press



Oct. 5, 1965 L. MIASKOFF PULLOUT FEED ROLLER FOR PRINTING PRESS Filed April 30, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR LEON/2RD M/ASKOFF AT ORNEY Oct. 5, 1965 MIASKOFF 3,210,074

PULLQUT FEED ROLLER FOR PRINTING PRESS Filed April 30, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 4/ 5 55 W" .65 52 I! H 2-H M W M" .II E HH IIQVEN TOR. LEONARD MIASKOFF AT TORNEY United States Patent 3,210,074 PULLOUT FEED ROLLER FOR PRINTING PRESS Leonard Miaskotr", Flushing, N.Y., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 30, 1962, Ser. No. 191,027 3 Claims. (Cl. 271--51) This invention relates to improvements in sheet feeding mechanisms and more particularly to an improved pullout roller assembly.

In mechanism for feeding sheets to a printing press it is usual to provide pullout rollers which transfer sheets, one at a time, from the sheet feeder to a conveyor board which then transports the sheets to the printing press.

A common type of feeding mechanism is a suction feeder wherein a reciprocating suction foot lifts and advances the top sheet of a pile stacked in an elevator device to the pullout roller assembly. The roller assembly includes a pair of contacting rollers, one of which is power driven, which grasp the leading edge of the sheet advanced thereto for transfer to the conveyor board. The power driven or lower roller is journalled in the side frames of the feeding mechanism and is generally in the form of an elongated roller extending across the width of the mechanism. The other or upper roller is a roller of more conventional width and is resiliently urged into contact with the power driven roller. As a rule more than one roller is provided to contact the power driven roller and they are spaced from each other. Moreover the force with which these rollers are urged into contact with the driven roller is adjustable for different paper stock. For example, if the press is printing on onion skin paper the force between the rollers is made very light while if the press is printing on a heavier paper stock such as manila paper, the force is increased.

Since more than one upper pullout roller is provided it is important that they all exert the same downward pressure on a sheet being fed. Otherwise, the sheet might be twisted as it is fed to the conveyor board. There are, of course, various techniques for adjusting the pullout roller assembly so that an equal pullout force is applied to all of the upper rollers. However, in operating the press it is often necessary to lift the upper rollers out of engagement with the lower roller. Means are provided for accomplishing this separation, but in the prior art structures the mechanism is such that when the rollers are separated the precise adjustment of the force exerted by the upper roller is altered. Consequently it was necessary to readjust the mechanism to obtain the desired equalization of forces on the upper rollers. It is to overcome the foregoing shortcoming of the prior art that the present mechanism is provided.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a pullout roller assembly in which the force exerted by the upper rollers can be readily adjusted and the upper rollers can be separated from the lower roller without affecting such adjustment.

Features and advantages of this invention may be gained from the foregoing and from the description of a preferred embodiment thereof which follows.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevation of sheet feeding apparatus showing a general arrangement of the various parts and mechanisms embodied therein;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary top plan view showing the pullout roller assembly;

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the upper roller of the pullout roller assembly; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line -44 of FIG. 3.

3,21%,fi74 Patented Oct. 5, 1965 "ice In FIG. 1 of the drawings there is shown a sheet feeding apparatus embodying the pullout roller mechanism of the present invention. The apparatus selected for illustrative purposes is a suction feeder having a suction foot 10 which is pivotally fastened to an arm 11 which in turn is pivotally supported on shaft 12. Arm 11 is provided with a cam follower 13 that engages a cam 14- keyed to shaft 15. This latter shaft is continuously rotated so that cam 14- pivots arm 11 downwardly to lower suction foot 10 into proximity with the top sheet of pile 16. As arm 11 is pivoted upwardly the suction foot lifts the top sheet from pile. At this time a cam 17 also mounted on shaft 15 pivots suction foot 10 forwardly to present the sheet to the pullout roller assembly 20. A follower 21 rotatably mounted on suction foot 10 is the means whereby cam 17 advances the suction foot and the sheet carried thereby to the pullout roller assembly.

The operating height of the pile 16 can be set so that elevator mechanism 18 driven by chain 19 automatically rises to maintain the top sheet of the pile at a predetermined level. After a sheet is delivered to pullout roller assembly 20 it is translated thereby to a conveyor board 21 having continuous moving tapes 22 which translate the sheet to the printing press cylinders (not shown). In the embodiment shown glass marbles 23 are mounted in frame 24 and provide means for pressing the sheets against an intermediate drive roller 26.

The pullout roller assembly comprises a plurality of upper pullout rollers 25 and a lower pullout roller 27, the latter of which is secured to a driving shaft 28 and is driven thereby at a constant speed. Roller 27, which preferably extends across the width of the feeding apparatus, is generally made of metal and may have its surface knurled so as to prevent sheet slippage. Upper pullout roller 25 is rotatably mounted on a pin 31 secured to the side walls of a clevis member 33 by means of set screws 34. Roller 25 is made of smooth rubber and is urged into contact with lower roller 27 so as to cooperate therewith in seizing the leading edge of a sheet and translating it there between. A-s should be clear from the drawings, upper rollers 26 are driven by means of the lower roller 27.

The upper roller 25 is supported by a cross-bar 35 fastened to the side walls of the feeder apparatus by means now to be described. A spindle 36 is provided with a threaded tip 37 that is screwed into a hole in clevis member 33. The spindle passes through a hole 40 provided in a bracket member 41 which engages the top and the bottom surfaces of cross-bar 35. The spindle is shaped in such manner that its lower end 42 fits snugly, but slideably, within the hole formed in bracket 41 but its upper length 42 is reduced in diameter so that it can pass through a hollow thumb screw 44 which is adjustably threaded into the upper part of hole 40. The upper end of spindle 36 is pinned to a lifting lever 45. A compression spring 46 is placed over the reduced diameter portion of spindle 36 between the bottom edge of thumb screw 44 and the shoulder formed by the lower end of the spindle. By this means the lifting lever is resiliently urged into engagement with the top of thumb screw 44. The lever 45 is so pinned to spindle 36 that as it is pivoted upwardly to the dotted position shown in FIG. 4 spindle 36 is raised, and consequently roller 25 is lifted out of engagement with roller 27.

The arrangement is such that when thumb screw 44 is moved downwardly, compression spring 46 also moves downwardly to press against portion 42 of spindle 36. This causes the pressure between upper roller 25 and lower roller 27 to increase. Conversely, as thumb screw 44 is raised, the contact pressure between rollers 25 and 27 is decreased. In either event, spring 45 urges the lifting lever into engagement with the top of thumb screw 44 thereby preventing the rotation of the screw unless it is accomplished by the machine operator. In operation a mere contact between the rollers is usually suflicient for them to be able to seize the leading edge of a sheet and advance it therebetween. However, the adjustment can vary considerably for paper stocks of different thicknesses. The contact pressure can be initially set by inserting strips of the stock to be printed between the pullout rollers and then adjusting them for a light even pressure.

A pin 50 is press fitted into bracket member 41 and projects into a slot 51 formed in clevis member 33. In this manner member 33 is prevented from rotating with respect to bracket 41 and by proper location of slot 51 the upper roller 25 can be toed outwardly with respect to the leading edge of the sheet so as to insure proper feeding of sheets to the conveyor board.

The cross bar 35 has a sloping surface 52 which is engaged by a wedge block 53 mounted at the end of thumb screw 54 which can turn in the block. The screw 54 is threaded through the upper arm of bracket 41 and as it is threaded downwardly it locks the bracket to cross bar 35. When the thumb screw is loosened, the bracket and roller 25 carried thereby can be positioned along the cross bar 35 to accommodate paper stock of different widths.

In operation, if it is desirable to lift the upper roller 25 from the lower 27, one merely has to raise actuator lever 45 from its horizontal to a vertical position. The upper roller 25 is now locked in a disengaged position. To re turn the rollers to their contacting position, actuator lever 45 is moved back to its horizontal position. Pin 50 has prevented any rotational movement of actuator lever 45 thereby maintaining thumb screw 44 in its preset position. This insures that the contact pressure between the rollers will be the same as preset. This is a distinct advantage especially in high speed machinery where, if the upper rollers exert different pressures, sheets will twist and thus cause misalignment of sheets as they are fed to the conveyor board.

It is to be understood that many changes could be made in the disclosed embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and, therefore, the de scription and drawings are to be interpreted as illustrative rather than in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. A pullout roller mechanism for use in a sheet feeding apparatus having a cross bar on which the upper pullout roller assembly is mounted, said mechanism including a power driven lower roller, and an upper pullout roller assembly comprising a bracket member having a vertical bore that is threaded at its upper end, means carried by said bracket for clamping said member to any selected position on said cross bar, a roller, a mounting member for rotatably supporting said roller, a spindle member secured to said mounting member, said spindle member having a first part that it is fitted into the lower part of the bore in said bracket member and a reduced second part, a setting member for adjusting the position of said roller with respect to said bracket member, said setting member being threaded so as to be adjustably positioned in the threaded part of said bore and having an aperture concentric with said bore through which the reduced part of said spindle member passes, resilient means located around the reduced part of said spindle member between the lower end of said setting member and the first part of said spindle member, and a lifting lever mounted on the upper end of said spindle member and urged into engage ment with the top of said setting member, the arrangement being such that said roller can be lifted out of its adjusted position by said lifting lever without altering the adjusted position of said setting member.

2; An upper pullout roller assembly according to claim 1 wherein the roller mounting member is provided with a slot, and including a pin secured in the bracket member and fitted into said slot to fixedly set the axial position of the roller.

3. .An upper pullout roller assembly according to claim 1 wherein said lifting lever is and pivotally mounted on the spindle whereby it will lift the roller as the lever is pivoted from a normal operating position to a lifting position.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,160,208 11/15 Spiess 271-56 2,036,883 4/36 Poppe.

2,192,414 3/40 Reed 27151 2,585,873 2/52 Stephenson 271-36 2,672,999 3/54 Protasoif 21553 2,819,078 1/58 Durand 271-39 2,890,884 6/59 Mestre 271-56 ROBERT B. REEVES, Acting Primary Examiner.

ROBERT A. LEIGHEY, Examiner. 

1. A PULLOUT ROLLER MECHANISM FOR USE IN A SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS HAVING A CROSS BAR ON WHICH THE UPPER PULLOUT ROLLER ASSEMBLY IS MOUNTED, SAID MECHANISM INCLUDING A POWER DRIVEN LOWER ROLLER, AND AN UPPER PULLOUT ROLLER ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A BRACKET MEMBER HAVING A VERTICAL BORE THAT IS THREADED AT ITS UPPER END, MEANS CARRIED BY SAID BRACKET FOR CLAMPING SAID MEMBER TO ANY SELECTED POSITION ON SAID CROSS BAR, A ROLLER, A MOUNTING MEMBER FOR ROTATABLY SUPPORTING SAID ROLLER, A SPINDLE MEMBER SECURED TO SAID MOUNTING MEMBER, SAID SPINDLE MEMBER HAVING A FIRST PART THAT IT IS FITTED INTO THE LOWER PART OF THE BORE IN SAID BRACKET MEMBER AND A REDUCED SECOND PART, A SETTING MEMBER FOR ADJUSTING THE POSITION OF SAID ROLLER WITH RESPECT TO SAID BRACKET MEMBER, SAID SETTING MEMBER BEING THREADED SO AS TO BE ADJUSTABLY POSITIONED IN THE THREADED OF SAID BORE AND HAVING AN APERTURE CONCENTRIC WITH SAID BORE THROUGH WHICH THE REDUCED PART 